Christian Teens Unite discussion

OK, Girls, (we're all girls, at this point, right? If you're a boy and I've excluded you, I'm sorry!)

You have asked if I would start leading some devotions with you, and I am so honored to do that. I thought about it and prayed about it, and here's what we came up with.

Why Psalms? Because we as people created by God to worship him. While the entire Bible is inspired by God and useful for instruction, the book of Psalms focuses primarily on giving glory to Him. So how 'bout it? My next post will include the text from Psalm 1 and how we can use it in out lives.

I love Psalms. Thanks!

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

**

I have already seen that you girls delight in the Lord. It is encouraging to hear young people who are not ashamed to show God that you love Him. Without Christian young people, our world would have a scary future! What is going to be tough, though, is sticking with it. I am gathering most of you are in Sunday school or youth group. While you are there, it is easier to say you love God. But once you get out into the world, it will be tougher.

Maybe you are home schooled or go to a Christian school. It's easier to talk about Jesus when all your friends do too. But if you go to a public school, (and even if you don't, the secular world will be upon you soon, one way or another), it might not be as cool to talk about Jesus.

Remember this - THE OTHER PEOPLE ARE NOT COOLER THAN YOU! Who the heck decided who the "cool people" are? And why do we all know it? When I was in high school, I was "the geeky cheerleader." I was captain of the cheerleaders, but my best friends were the smart people. I was keenly aware which of the cheerleaders were actually the "cool" ones, and I was not one of them. I didn't really care, to be honest, but I was really impressed that those girls were friends with football players and other "cool guys." But I am friends with an awful lot of those cool people now on Facebook, and it seems we are all on the same level now. So weird. None of them sat at their computers and said, "Oh, I remember her. She's not one of the cool people, so I'm not going to friend her." Instead they said, "Oh, I remember her. I wonder what she's up to."

In high school it was different. Those cool people were always having parties. I was not invited. From the other softball players and cheerleaders, I heard about the stuff that happened at those parties, and it did not honor God.

IF IT IS NOT HONORING GOD, IT IS SCOFFING. You do not want to be in the position of scoffers, because Psalm 1 tells us their way leads to destruction. We don't have any idea what that destruction is - it's different for each person. It almost always involves guilt and regret, though.

The way out of that is to keep out of that group. Keep company with the people who will honor God. They will encourage you in the right direction. And what is your reward? GROWING FRUIT IN YOUR SEASON.

Fruit? Reward? Yes. Your fruit will be a sigh of relief that God was pleased and not ashamed of how your spent your life. And that fruit could be any kind of success God thinks you are ready for.

I have seen you lifting each other up. You can be sure that God is happy with the way you treat one another. Keep it up. Keep encouraging each other and it will be like second nature for you. Beyond that, your love for each other will draw others to honor God as well.

Good job! Keep it up!

Great start to my morning. Thanks!

Thanks for reading it. Glad to do it!

tanks that was awesome

:)

Fear

Psalm 3:3-5
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.


David wrote this Psalm while he was hiding from his son. His son was angry because David had ignored the (atrocious) sins of his other children. His daughter had been raped by her brother and David did nothing about it. Now his other son was livid.

(Just a note- this was not the first time this had happened in the Bible. When Eli (the priest over the little boy Samuel) ignored how sacrilegious his sons had become, God struck the sons down and killed them. So David's sin here was a biggie.)

When I have sinned, a lot of times I want to hide it and pretend it hasn't happened. That also means kind of ignoring God, because I know He knows.

David did the opposite. He ran to God and asked for His protection. He clung to God's favor, because he knew that God would and had forgiven him. He couldn't bear to be out of God's presence. Good for him!

I can't imagine you have ever been in a spot where you weren't sure if you were going to wake up or be killed in your sleep. (At least I hope not!) But we all get scared sometimes. And it can be really scary to think God has abandoned you. But you can be sure He never has.

When I was about 14-15 year old, my parents felt I was old enough to take care of myself if they went away for a few days. They were right, but I was TERRIFIED of anything that could possibly go wrong. Everyone, I was sure, was out to get me. Every car that slowed down near my house, in my mind, was a murderer waiting to kill me.

I should have remembered these verses. God is a shield all around us. Now matter what we have ever done, He will forgive us and protect us. So, next sleep over you go to, you can get a good night's sleep (ha!). Because He is guarding you and will make sure you see the morning. :)

I so needed this. A couple of weeks ago, I just got over a series of panic attacks. I'm not sure if they're quite over yet. Let's hope. So this definitely helps. :)

That really helped me also

Great! Then I challenge you to memorize verse 3:

"But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high."

When you are afraid or have another panic attack, recite it in your mind until your spirit is at peace.

ill try ;)

All right, I'll give it a go. :3

I'll memorize it too. It's a good one to have.

Tracey i need to ask u for advice. is that ok?

Absolutely!

ok so in youth group ive noticed the 8th graders and up look down on the 7th graders(me). how can i help stop this?

Hmm. Not a very Christian attitude, but not at all uncommon. They probably see in you what they were last year, and it is a place they would not want to go back to. You can be sure that things will change as you both get older. For the time being, I would suggest finding the friendly faces and stick with them. If those friendly folks happen to be even older than the more snobby ones, that is even better. Since the 8th graders (9th, etc.) look up to the high schoolers, a word from one of them that you aren't so bad will go a long way. If it is a struggle finding an older friend, stick with the friends you've got and try your best to ignore any slights by the others. (Of course I know you will remember it and pass on your kindness to the new 7th graders next year). But I will also say that if the others are doing anything specifically hurtful (words or otherwise), be sure to speak to your youth group leaders who can step in and help. Hope that helps!

thanks so much

First, I wanted to check in on you girls who were struggling with fear and panic.

I admit, I could only memorize that verse because I know a song that goes with it. Here's a link to one version of that song, if it helps you. I love the song, though can't say this is my favorite version of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMbl35...

Contentment

Psalm 4: 6-8
"6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.
7 Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety."

Moving on in Psalms...
Can I assume you guys are all on Facebook? I am. And I spend waaaayy too much of my time each day snooping through all my friends' business.

What do I see the most of? Whining & complaining.
"Why didn't we get any snow?"
"We got too much snow!"
"It's too cold outside."
"I wanna go back to bed."

My own kids are pretty young, so they aren't on Facebook, but they give me their share of whining too. Usually about whatever I make for dinner. It annoys me.

Just for the record, I am not excluding myself here. When things don't go my way, you can bet I let the world know it! But that's just not right.

The Bible doesn't say when David recorded Psalm 4, but you might remember that Psalm 3 was written when he was hiding for his life. Since David spent a good deal of his life in trouble, it is safe to guess here that he was in danger when he wrote this.

But how did he choose to react to his situation? He had a reason to be miserable. He was a king who had been run from his palace.

Instead, he asks for joy and praises God that he can sleep in peace, knowing He is near. Basically what he says in the verses above is, "Everyone else is whining, God, but I choose to worship you instead."

Sound like today? I think these verses are VERY relevant today. All those whiners out there, and do we choose to be among them? Are we living in this world and not of it?

As Christians, we want to be known as someone different, someone not of this world (even if we are). Someone who stands out in a good way. People may get sick of whiners, but they can (almost) always appreciate a positive attitude.

If we want to represent Jesus, let's represent Him as someone thankful for what we have. :)

You really do have some perfect timing... I've been whining about school all weekend. Thanks for posting!

Hey, you're not alone, Christi. It is the way of the world and so easy to get caught up in it.

Yeah, no kidding.

Psalm 9:10
"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."

I haven't been faithful in posting my Psalm thoughts. Please forgive me. I have been doing a Bible Study in Daniel, and it is AWESOME! But for today, I thought I would take a break. :)

Just one verse today, but it is packed with power.

Do you KNOW the name of the Lord? Do you KNOW its power?

By KNOW, I don't mean "are you familiar with it?" You guys all know me and my name, but none of you probably know what I am all about. You don't know where I was born, the name of my 3rd grade teacher, or what I wanted to be when I grew up.

My husband does. When we were together (dating, engaged), he thought about me all the time, and finding new information about me was exciting. He wanted to know all there was about the then Tracy Custer. And he wanted to be connected to that information too. Because he loved me.

That's why I'm glad God gave us marriage as a beautiful example of His bride, the Church. He is our Bridegroom, and that's how He feels about us. He's got the advantage, though, having known everything about us since before we we're even born.

But as a bride, I felt the same way about my groom. I wanted to know all about him. And if we are really who we say we are, we should be digging in to find out as much as we can about Jesus, our Bridegroom. We should never get to that place where were say, "I've read the Bible. I know all there is." We should know that we can never know it all. And the more we find out, the more we should hunger to keep learning.

When you are in the midst of this learning process, your faith will grow. You won't know how, but you will understand that there is nothing more secure than God. And even not being physically with Him, without having His hand to hold in yours, you will know that you don't need anymore than His Name to keep you safe.

So no matter what you have in front of you, if the Name of the Lord goes before you, you can rest in His strength and power.

Love to you all. God bless you!

I like that. Thanks for posting. :)

:)

Heaven
Psalm 27:4-5
"One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock."

This Psalm has been my favorite one lately. Every verse is loaded. But I picked these for today.

You know that we were not created for this world. We were created to be in God's presence. And because of the sin in this world, God can no longer walk on the Earth, like He did with Adam.

The Garden of Eden must have been a really wonderful place. Everything a person could ever need, and God's presence there too.

There are descriptions of Heaven in Revelation. But it tells us that not the half of it has even been told. I really think we don't have enough of the right words to give us a good picture.

But what is even more astounding is not walking on streets of gold, not walls made of precious stones or even a giant pearl at the gate. What is amazing is that none of that will even cause us to blink an eye. We will be so totally focused on God and the beauty that surrounds Him.

That's how incredibly awesome God is. Just the sight of Him will so incapsulate our focus that we won't care that we are walking in diamonds! This is what we will get to do forever. We won't want to stop. You know how sometimes your eyes just get fixed into a stare, and you don't want to break it because it feels good to keep staring? Imagine that but better and longer.

Moving on to verse 5. That same God that we couldn't stop staring at in the verse above, is the one dying to be with you. (For real, He DID die to be with us.) Can you even imagine? He wants to hold onto us. He wants to protect us. Picture the most awesome protagonist in your favorite book, and how much he loves that heroine. He wants to save her. THAT'S our GOD!

He gave us a place of shelter. We can't be in heaven yet, though He desperately wants us there. And so many times in this world, WE wish we were there too. So he gave us the best that he could for now. He gave us the comfort of His Name.

When we are troubled by stuff in this world, he will keep us safe. he will watch over us. He will set us on a rock, away from everything that is troubling us.

How do we do that? We seek His Presence, just like we would find in heaven. We block everything else out of our mind and go to Him.

Can't do it? Start with prayer. Keep on praying until you feel it. Be honest, be sincere in your words. They don't have to be special or beautiful, just honest. You will feel his glow inside you. And there's your little piece of heaven. :)

Out Of The Slump

Psalm 13:5-6
"But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me."

I didn't post the beginning of this Psalm. But if you are a Tenth Avenue North fan, you would recognize the lyrics similar to it. How long must I wait for you?

Again, our friend David is in trouble. Scholars have not been able to determine which trouble of David's specifically inspired this psalm, but he has plenty in his life to choose from. Most of them, devastatingly, could have easily ended in his death.

There are only six verses in short psalm. The first four are asking God where He was. Why, God, why?

Have you been there? Asking, why is allowing you to go through a particular trial? "Where are you God? Why didn't you answer my prayer to save me from this problem?"

And all you heard was silence.

That was what Daniel heard at first too, as the wind whipped by his ears as he was pushed into the pit of lions. It was what what Jesus heard when He asked the Father that the cup might pass from him.

None of them stopped to dwell on that problem, but instead turned to praising God.

No matter what the circumstances are, God is still sovereign. He has still made the best decision, even if His decision isn't what you wanted. And He is still worthy of praise.

And so David goes on with his psalm. He will trust, he will rejoice, and he will sing God's praise.

We know this wasn't the last psalm David wrote, so he must have come out okay. And he probably felt better about it sooner, too, because it's hard to be in a bad mood when you're singing to God.

Give it a try and see how it works for you. ;)

I agree, that is beautiful. But it sure sounds like you have been through a lot!

Thank you for posting these. I love reading through them. :)

Gosh I really need to get back into it, then, huh? ;)

You should! I just found these and love them :)

OK then. Just needed some motivation. I'll get to them this week. :)

Yeah!

Safe in His Arms

Psalm 16
1 "Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Safety. It's what we all need. Literally, before we can meet any other needs like eating or sleeping, we have to be sure there is no danger around us.

David felt some pretty real danger. He was running for his life from a demon possessed king who wanted to kill him!

I wrote about safety before, but this is a little different. It is more like security. Few of us are cowering in caves anymore.

But our minds are cowering in corners, afraid to utter the quiet thoughts from our deepest inside being. Thoughts that are asking things like,

"Am I a dork?"
"Does anybody really like me?"
"Are my friends sick of me?"
"Will any ever love me?"

And then you read this psalm. David begs God to stay near to him, and what I here is, "Lord, love me! I need you!"

The Holy Spirit prompt David to be reminded of how precious he was in God's sight. "Don't worry, David, I'm here. You don't need anyone else. I will keep you safe."

"You make my lot secure."

What will it take to quiet the questions in your mind? What will make your lot secure? God's smiling face and comforting hand patting you on the head reminding you that He's there, and He's got it under control. There's nothing else you need to worry about. The psalm reminds us to keep our eyes on Him, and then tells us the wonderful things we can expect after that.

It might not answer the questions nagging your brain, but it should put it all in perspective.

Read over this Psalm again, especially when your brain is bringing you down. And may you be filled with joy in His presence!

I think verses 7 and 10 are my favorites. Thanks for posting this!

I just love the whole thing. Thanks for reading it!

Psalm 17:6
"I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer."


So, how's your prayer life?

Ouch! Touchy subject for some us, isn't it? I may not be speaking for you, but I know my prayer life could sure use a tune up.

Why do we not pray??? As David reminds us in the verse above, God WILL hear us, every time. He might not answer us the way we want, but He will do what is best for us. Every time.

I think it is pride. When we have a problem, we think we are quite capable to get out of it on our own. Or, things are going well? Well we must have done something right on our own.

Both are lies, and we need to get out of that habit.

Personally, I want to wake up every morning and pray. I rarely do. Why, why, why? Because I do not set my heart to do it. I wake up thinking of what needs to be done each day.

Prayer needs to be purposeful. I need to write down PRAY on my list of things to do if I can't remember to do it.

Before you know it, it will be habit, and that's not a bad thing. When I was dating the man who is my husband now, I got nervous when he would call. I tried to plan things to talk about, sometimes even planning out my actual words because I was so worried about looking dumb.

Eventually, I came to realize that no matter what goofy thing might come out of my mouth, my husband still loves me. (And half the time isn't listening anyway, but that's neither here nor there, since God is ALWAYS listening.) So I stopped planning what to say. Now, when he is around, I just say whatever is on my mind. Or rest comfortably in a silent peace.

That is the point we can get to with God. Comfortable enjoyable conversation. (That means listening to what he says too.) Just continue the relationship, keep striving to be closer to Him, and make yourself pray until it flows like water. The internal spring of Living Water will wash you with peace as a reward.

Thanks for posting this! I totally agree with you. I want to pray every morning but I start doing everything else first and before I know it i'm out of the house.
It's also because I don't have that much knowledge on how to pray that I feel a bit awkward doing it. Could you maybe write something about how to pray?

Ooo! Yes, I will be happy to work on that for you, Myra. One of my daughters absolutely refuses to pray because she is a perfectionist and doesn't want to do it if she doesn't know the exact words to say. We are trying to get her to understand that there are no "right" words. Talk to God like a friend who really knows you. I think of it like writing in a diary.

I did teach on this subject to my youth group, so I will get together some pointers and post them sometime this week.

Prayer:

By request from Myra, but for anyone else interested in a few words about Prayer. :)

Jesus taught us exactly how to pray in Matthew 6. When He gave us the Lord's Prayer, don't think he meant that that was the exact prayer we had to use every time (because God wants us to pray from what we feel in our heart, not necessarily what we memorize in our brain), but it is a perfect example of what prayer can include. Let me go through it with you:

Our Father: Most prayers start by recognizing who you are speaking to. It's like a phone call. (Hello, Is God there?) It is also a way to get your brain to remember who you are talking to. God! Wow! Sometimes, you are crying out to the Father you need to cling to (Dear Father) or sometimes you are addressing how you need Him to be ruler of the world (Dear Mighty Lord).

Who art in heaven: I believe this is just a general consensus that God is the God in heaven, above any fake gods there might be on earth.

Hallowed be Thy Name: This is a way of praising God, just because He deserves praise. That is our whole reason for being created, so I would say never skimp on praise God for how great he is!

Thy Kingdom Come: This is a way of acknowledging that God has a plan, and our way of saying that we accept what He has decided is best for us.

Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven: (same as above)

Give us this day our daily bread: Even though we just told God that we believe He will do what is best, doesn't mean we can't let our hearts be known. Later, Jesus tells us that we can ask anything we want. (Doesn't mean we will get everything we want, but God wants us to ask.)

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: Never a day goes by that we haven't sinned. And while Jesus has forgiven all of our sin once and for all, we still need to recognize and be sorry for the things we have done. (And we need to practice forgiving others, because God has!)

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: We need God's help. He will not tempt us, but if we focus on Him (something we can't do without His help), we will be able to keep our eyes away from what tempts us.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever: Another way of recognizing how Great God is.

Amen: Simply means "So be it." I personally can't pray without saying Amen, but commonly this is just a way to let all know that your prayer has ended.

So here's what a prayer modeled after this might sound like from one of us:

Dear Father,
You are awesome and powerful. I love you more than anything. I know you know what is best. Please let it be. But I also ask that you keep my family safe as we travel, and please heal my sick grandma. I'm so sorry that I was not respectful to my parents today. Please forgive me and help me to do better tomorrow. Because You are really great and I want to honor you.
Amen

When you pray, there are no rules. God just wants to hear from you. So if you don't pray every part of that prayer, He's not going to get mad. but this is a great guideline given to us from Jesus Himself.

Psalms is cool!

Prayer #2:

Another way of coming up with what to pray when you don't know what to pray is to remember ACTS:

A- Appreciation - telling God how great he is
C- Confession - asking forgiveness of your sins
T - Thanksgiving - thanking God for what He has done or given you
S- Supplication - asking God for your needs or the desires of your heart.

Hmm. That was a lot shorter and quicker. Maybe I should have started with that one. But the other one was right from Jesus's words, so that is probably better. Although, if you are talking to God, as long as you are doing it remembering Who the heck you're talking to, you can't do it wrong.

:)

Tiny Alien (Crazy) wrote: "Psalms is cool!"

Yeah, it totally rocks. One of my favorite books!

Thank you so much Tracy! You really helped me to understand what praying is about. It's a great thing to know that I can't do it wrong. I'm definitely gonna write your notes down, so I can read them before praying! I'm gonna practice praying and keep what you said in mind :)

Aww, yea! Glad it was a help. I was afraid I was too long-winded.

This is awesome. Thank you!!

Any Psalm that talks about hurts and forgiveness?